That's What Friends Do
by EmpressOfFlight
Summary: (This story takes place back in Chris and Dan's teen years) While on one Dan's "Revenge Adventures", Chris can't help but wonder why his buddy looks so beat up...


Chris was jolted awake to the sound of a loud tapping sound. He fumbled out of bed and quickly got up, looking for the source of the noise. It was then that he saw his best friend, Dan, knocking on the windowpane. Chris sighed heavily and opened his window, allowing the early visitor access into his home.

"Dan, what are you doing here?! It's..." He looked over to his alarm clock. "5:30 in the morning!"

Dan shut the window behind him and turned to Chris. "Sorry, my friend, but revenge never rests!"

"Well, could revenge AT LEAST wait until I had breakfast?" Chris grumbled while rubbing his eyes.

"Great idea!" Dan exclaimed, plopping onto a beanbag chair. "Why don't ya make yourself useful and make us some pancakes, buddy? And make it snappy!"

Chris opened his mouth to protest, but instead sighed heavily and headed to the kitchen. It was pointless to argue with someone like Dan...and besides, Chris couldn't resist the temptation of fifteen minutes later, the two friends were both chowing down on delicious homemade blueberry pancakes . Dan took a sip of his coffee and made a face.

"Man, I hate coffee." he complained.

"Then WHY did you ask for it?" Chris asked.

"Because, my friend, I'll need all the energy I can get for today's scheme!" declared Dan.

"Oh yeah." said Chris, stuffing another pancake in his mouth. "So who messed up this time?"

Dan narrowed his eyes and shook his fist in the air. "THE PIZZA GUY!"

"Shhhhhhhhhh! Quiet down! My parents are sleeping!" Chris whispered, trying hush down Dan.

The two remained silent for a moment, being sure that neither Chris' mom or dad were awoken by Dan's loud outburst. When the coast was clear, Chris sighed with relief. He then looked over to his friend.

"Okay, so what'd the pizza guy do to you?"

"It all started last night. Around 6 o'clock to be exact. It was supper time and I was starving. But there was no food to eat . So I decided to order a pepperoni pizza. About thirty minutes later the pizza guy arrived and gave me my food. I opened the box only to discover that it was CHEESE pizza! No pepperoni at all! Not a slice!" Dan leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. "And THAT is what he did to me, Chris."

Chris rolled his eyes and mumbled "Oh please..." under his breath.

"Hey! I paid ten freakin' bucks for that thing and he had the nerve to give me the wrong pizza! So are you helping me or not?!"

"Okay, okay! Yeesh."

Dan smirked. "Good." he took another swig of coffee. "Alright, so here's the plan: We are gonna fork his yard with REAL forks. Not the stupid plastic ones. "

The plan seemed pretty mellow compared to Dan's other schemes of which usually involved explosives or arson or something else that could be considered illegal to use. So Chris just rolled with it.

"Alright, so when are we gonna carry this plan of yours?"

Dan thought for a moment then his mouth stretched into a sly grin. "First, I want ya to collect all the the forks you can find. Then, meet me at the park at 10 o'clock tonight. Got it, Monkey Face?"

"Uh, okay...Why the park?"

Dan waved his hand dissmissively. "Meh, I'll tell ya later." He took a big bite of his pancake. "Alright, see ya tonight. Be there and be ready!"

And with that, Dan was out the door, off to do...whatever it was that he needed to do to. Chris sighed and picked up the dishes and carried them to the sink to wash them up.

-

Chris checked his watch. _It's 10:15. Where's Dan?_ he thought to himself.

Just then, he saw his friend dashing down the dimly lit alley. He looked as if he's been hit by a train. He had a black eye, scratches all over his face and his hair was unkempt, well, more unkempt than usual that is. Chris was taken back by his appearance.

"Woah." He said when Dan reached him. "What happened to you?!"

Dan mumbled something but Chris didn't pick up on it.

"Looks like ya got in a fight..." Chris stated, trying to understand what happened to his pal.

"...Yeah. A fight..."

Chris sighed. Dan getting into fights wasn't exactly unusual but this time, he doubted that it was some tussle. It had to be something else, but Chris couldn't put his finger on it.

"So," said Dan straightening himself up. "Did you get all the forks you could find?"

Chris lifted up a plastic shopping bag, full of the utensils that he was asked to get. "Yeah. Mom's seriously wondering what the heck's wrong with me because of this."

Dan snapped his head towards him. "You TOLD her our plan?"

"No way! She just wondered WHY I got all these forks. I told her it was for some project."

Dan smirked. "Ah, so the golden boy can lie. I taught you well."

"Whatever." Chris grumbled. "Alright, so why'd you want to meet up here and where does this pizza guy live at anyway?"

"I wanted to meet up here because that stupid pizza guy lives not far from here! Now c'mon! It's just around the corner."

With that, the two friends set off to their destination. While darting down the street, Chris couldn't help but think of how Dan got so beaten up. It didn't look like it an accident, yet at the same time it didn't look like a result of a scuffle. Come to think of it, he noticed that he almost always seemed wounded one way or another. He was about to ask once again, how he got so beat up when Dan shot out his arm to stop Chris from running any further.

"Shhh! Here we are!" Dan said with a sly grin. "Okay, let's get to it."

For about five minutes or so, the two stabbed the man's front yard with silverware. Once the bag was empty, and the lawn was forked, Chris wiped his forehead.

"Well, that's all the forks. C' mon. Let's get outta here."

"Hold on a moment. We're not done just yet." Dan spoke in a cunnning tone of voice. He pulled a can of spray paint, seemingly out of no where. and sprayed all the forks a dark shade of green so it'd blend in with the grass. "Heh, oh he'll sure get a painful surprise in the morning."

_So much for bringing those back home._ thought Chris.

"Alright. There. We forked this guy's yard. Now can we pleeeaaase go home? It's getting late and I got a history report due on Monday."

Dan quickly turned around. "What?! No! We still got a lot of schemes to carry out! The pizza guy is just one of the many people on my list!"

Chris rolled his eyes. "Dan, it's 11:30 at night. It's too late to go along with any of your revenge plans. Why don't we just go home and call it a day? Er, night."

"Because I don't wanna go back home!" Dan protested, his eyes full of rage.

Chris glared at him. "Really, Dan? You're gonna act this way? You aren't a little kid anymore! What's the big deal about going back to your place anyway?"

The anger that Dan's eyes was swept away and replaced with sorrow. He turned around, his back facing his friend and rubbed his arm. "...'Cause..." was his only reply.

Whie rubbing his arm, Dan's sleeve rolled up, revealing a rater large and dark bruise. Now Chris understood. Now Chris knew Dan wasn't one to open up but it was pretty obvious that he didn't have a very good home life. Perhaps that's the reason why Dan looked beaten often and had anger issues. How on earth could anybody be so cruel to their child, their own flesh and blood? A wave of sympathy came over Chris and he turned his best friend around then smiled.

"Hey, how about you crash at my place for the night? I heard that there's a horror movie marathon on tonight."

Dan's face instatnly lit up and a genuine smile formed. "Sure! Sounds great! Aw man, I hope they show _Al: The Viking Killer_! It's freakin' awesome!"

"I'm sure they will."

"Oh, and uh, Chris," said Dan as they went around the curb.

"Yeah?"

"...Thanks."


End file.
